Create an audit

Create an audit

Create an audit

Compliance offers two types of audits: one uses templates to define conditions and
the other uses a script.

Ensure that an appropriate template record was created for this audit.

Note: Conditions in the template define the values to audit.

Use the CI Class Manager:

Navigate to Configuration > CI Class Manager.

Select a class from the Class Hierarchy.

In the sidebar on the right, check Advanced.
Click Audit in the
Compliance group.

Or, navigate to one of these modules:

Compliance > Audits

Compliance > Architecture Compliance > Audits

Compliance > Desired State > Audits

Compliance > Scripted Audits > Audits

Click New.

The system opens a new record for the audit type associated with the
navigation path you selected. The Audit type field is
read-only.

Complete the form using the fields described in the table.

Right-click the header bar and select Save.

The Audit Results and Follow On
Tasks related lists appear on the form.

To run the audit immediately, click Run Audit.

When template audits run, ServiceNow updates
the date and time in the Last run date field and
populates the related lists. For scripted audits, the Last run
date field is not populated.

View the records that passed and the discrepancies found by the audit in the
Audit Results related list.

You can open template records and any follow-on tasks directly from this
related list. Notice that the value in the Task
description field appears as the Short
description in the follow-on tasks.

Note: You
cannot delete audit records that have audit results or audit results
that have follow-on tasks. ServiceNow
disables the Delete option in records and lists
where these dependent records exist.

Table 1. Creating Audits

Field

Description

Name

Name for this audit.

Filter

Filter to use when the audit type is Scripted. This field
is required for scripted audits, but is hidden for all other
audit types.

Template

[Required] Template to use when this audit runs. Audit
type filters the list of available templates, and only the
active versions of templates are available for selection.
For example, when you create an audit from Desired State,
only templates of the Desired State audit type are available
for selection. For the Desired State and Architecture
Compliance audit types, only templates for tables that
extend the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] table are available.
This field is hidden when the audit type is
Scripted.

Table

[Read-only] Table for the template.

Create tasks

Option to create follow-on tasks for correcting
discrepancies (selected). In a scripted audit, you can
create the logic for either task state by using
true to create tasks or
false to not create tasks. By
default, this check box is cleared
(false) in a new audit
record.

Assignment type

Method for assigning follow-on tasks. This field is
visible only when the Create task
check box is selected. Choices are:

User Field: Select a user reference field on the
table being audited. For example, you choose the
user identified in the Managed
by field on the failed record to
perform the tasks. This selection displays the
Assigned to and
Assign to empty fields. If
the reference field on the record is empty, the
value in the Assign to empty
field is used.

Specific User: Select a specific user to perform the
tasks. This selection displays the
User field.

Group Field: Select a group reference field on the
table being audited. For example, you choose the
group identified in the Support
group field on the failed record to
perform the tasks. Tasks are assigned to all members
of the group. This selection displays the
Assign to group and
Assign to empty fields. If
the reference field on the record is empty, the
value in the Assign to empty
field is used.

Specific Group: Select a specific group to perform
the tasks. This selection displays the
Group field. All members of
the selected group are assigned to the tasks.

User

The specific user this audit assigns to follow-on tasks.
This user must have the
certification
role. This field is available under these conditions:

Assignment type is set to Specific
User.

Assign to empty is set to Create Assigned
Task, and Assignment
type is set to User
Field.

Assign to group

The group field that defines which group this audit
assigns to the follow-on task. This field is available only
when the Assignment type is
Group Field.

Group

The specific group this audit assigns to follow-on tasks.
This field is available only when the Assignment
type is Specific
Group.

Assign to

The user field that defines which user this audit assigns
to the follow-on task. This field is available only when the
Assignment type is
User Field.

Assign to empty

The behavior to use if the field selected in
Assign to or Assign to
group is blank on the record being audited.
For example, if a follow-on task must be assigned to a
manager, but no manager is identified, the Assign
to empty setting determines what happens.
This field appears only when the Assignment
type is User Field or
Group Field. Choices are:

Do Not Create Task: No follow-on task is created
when the Assign to or
Assign to group field is
empty.

Create Unassigned Task: Create a follow-on task, but
do not assign it to any user or group. The task can
be manually assigned later.

Create Assigned Task: Create a follow-on task and
assign it to the user or group specified. If the
assignment type is User
Field, the User
field becomes available. If the assignment type is
Group Field, the
Group field becomes
available.

The audit automatically creates follow-on tasks for all
records that have Assign to
populated, regardless of the Assign to
empty setting.

Short description

Brief description of the purpose of the audit.

Task description

General description of the work required for the
follow-on tasks for the audit. All follow-on tasks created
by this audit inherit this description.

Active

Activation control for this audit record. Clear this
check box to prevent this audit from running and creating
follow-on tasks.

Run

How often to run the schedule that generates the
audit.

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Periodically

Once

On Demand

Day

If Run is
Weekly, the day of the week
when the audit runs.

If Run is
Monthly, the day of the
month when the audit runs. If the day is 29, 30 or
31, for shorter months the audit runs on the last
day of the month.

Repeat Interval

If Run is
Periodically, the frequency that
the audit runs, based on a 24-hr. clock. Enter the number of
days between audits and the time of day that you want the
audit to run. For example, set Days
to 10 and
Hours to
14:00:00 to run the audit every
10 days at 2:00pm.

Starting

If Run is
Periodically or
Once, the date and time when the
audit runs.

Time

If Run is
Daily,
Weekly,
Monthly, or
Once, the time of day, on a
24-hour clock, when the audit runs.

Last run date

[Read-only] The last date and time the audit ran, either
on its regular schedule or manually. Audit previews do not
update this field.

Next scheduled run

[Read-only] The next date and time when the audit runs.
The system recalculates this field when you change the
schedule.

Audit type

[Read-only] The type assigned to this audit. The system
selects the audit type based on the application from which
the audit is created. The type can be:

Desired State

Architecture Compliance

Compliance

Scripted

Health window

Duration of the evaluation period for threshold and
stability. The health window value defines the number of
Health window units in an evaluation period for an audit.
This value is expressed as a positive integer. The default
value for this field is
7.

Health window unit

Unit of measurement that defines the duration of a health
window. The default value for this field is
Days. Choices are:

Minutes

Hours

Days

Months

Threshold count

Sets the acceptable number of audit failures for the
desired state field that can occur within the specified
health
window for a CI. The
audit
results indicate when a desired state field is within or has
exceeded this threshold limit. The default value for the
threshold is 5.

Stability count

Sets the acceptable number of times that audit results
for a CI can switch between Certified
and Failed within the specified
health
window. The
audit
results for a CI indicate whether it is stable or unstable.
The default value for stability is 1.

Run this script

Audit script to run. This field is available only when
the audit type is Scripted. The Audit
form includes a sample script with instructions for
performing the audit and generating the follow-on tasks.